AIST    ADDRESS 


THE  LIFE  AND  SERVICES 


HON.  MARK  SKINNER, 

Ex-Jl'IHlE  OK  THE  COOK  Col.'NTY  CoUKT  OF  COMMON   PLEAS, 

Now  the  Superior  Court  of  Cook  County, 

DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  BAR  ASSOCIATION, 


CITY  OF*  CHICAQO, 

Dec.  17,  1887. 

BY 

HON.    ELLIOTT   ANTHONY, 

Jl'IKSK  OK  THE  Sl'PKRIOR  Coi'RT  OK  COOK  COUNTY. 


CHICAGO: 

BAKNAKD  &  QUNTHOHP,  PRINTKKS. 
1887. 


WHEN  death  lias  removed  from  the  scene  of  his  labors  and 
triumphs  a  man  whose  abilities,  learning  and  virtues  have 
given  him  a  high  and  commanding  position  among  his  associ- 
ates and  fellowmen,  it  is  a  duty  which  his  survivors  owe  to 
themselves  to  gather  up  the  fragments  of  his  life,  that  nothing 
of  his  example  may  be  lost.  This  is  an  obligation  binding 
with  peculiar  force  upon  the  members  of  the  legal  profession 
since  the  reputation  of  an  eminent  lawyer  can  only  be  thor- 
oughly felt  and  appreciated  by  his  brethren  who  have  shared 
in  his  counsels  and  witnessed  his  triumphs  and  defeats.  It 
may  be  true,  as  it  is  sometimes  said,  that  the  lives  of  lawyers 
are  barren  of  events,  but  not  more  so  than  that  of  the  lives  of 
men  engaged  in  other  pursuits  or  professions,  and  if  their 
contemporaries  and  immediate  successors  were  careful  to  record 
and  transmit  memorials  of  them  to  posterity,  we  should  not  be 
under  the  necessity  of  depending  on  tradition  for  what  they 
said  and  did.  * 

We  pause  to-day  by  the  grave  of  one  of  the  pioneers  of  this 
city,  an  honored  member  of  our  profession,  who,  at  the  open- 
ing of  manhood,  left  his  Green  Mountain  home  and  joined  that 
great  westward- moving  throng  that  were  hastening  forward  to 
take  up  their  abode  on  the  fertile  prairies  of  that  magnificent 
region  which  our  forefathers  in  the  very  morning  of  our  exist- 
ence dedicated  to  God  and  Liberty,  lying  north  and  west  of 
the  Ohio. 

Fifty  years  have  come  and  gone  since  Mark  Skinner,  who 
has  just  passed  away,  settled  here  and  with  other  earnest  men 
helped  to  lay  the  foundations  of  this  great  city,  and  to  whose 
enlightened  judgment  and  far-seeing  sagacity  the  present 
generation  is  indebted  for  its  prosperity  and  its  commercial 
supremacy. 

"  In  the  birth  of  societies,"  says  Montesquieu.  "  it  is  the 
chiefs  of  the  republics  who  form  the  institution,  and  in  the 
sequel  it  is  the  institution  which  forms  the  chiefs  of  the 
republics.1'  And  he  adds  :  "  One  of  the  causes  of  the  pros- 
perity of  Home  was  the  fact  that  its  Kings  were  all  great  men. 


We  find  nowhere  else  in  history  an  uninterrupted  series  of 
snch  statesmen  and  such  commanders."  Illinois  was  fortunate 
from  the  first  in  having  as  her  founders  a  race  of  great  men. 
What  city  ever  had  a  more  enterprising,  more  sagacious,  a 
more  enlightened  and  far-seeing  class  of  men  than  those  that 
shaped  her  destiny  as  she  rose  from  the  marsh  and  the  wilder- 
ness ?  What  brighter  galaxy  of  names  ever  adorned  the 
annals  of  any  community  than  that  of  Caton,  Collins,  Morris, 
Hamilton,  Judd,  Peck,  Butterfield,  E.  S.  Williams,  Julius 
Wadsworth,  Hugh  T.  Dickey,  William  H.  Brown,  Henry 
Brown,  Lisle  Smith,  Giles  Spring,  John  M.  Wilson,  J.  Y. 
Scammon,  Edwin  Lamed,  Grant  Gooduck,  Thomas  Drum- 
mond,  Henry  W.  Blodgett,  James  Grant,  George  Manniere, 
George  B.  Meeker,  William  B.  Ogden,  Mahlon  D.  Ogden, 
Isaac  N.  Arnold,  Thomas  Hoyne,  John  Wentworth,  Mark 
Skinner,  and  in  later  years  E.  B.  Washburne  ?  Here  are 
names  quite  as  illustrious  as  those  whose  voices  rang  out 
under  the  arches  of  Westminster  Hall.  Here  are  men  whose 
achievements  will  compare  with  that  of  any  land.  They  lend 
lustre  to  our  local  history,  and  would  be  an  ornament  to  any 
age  or  any  country.  We  are  proud  of  their  achievements  and 
the  part  that  they  played  in  shaping  the  destinies  of  this  great 
city. 

If  monuments  are  to  be  erected  to  commemorate  the 
achievements  and  virtues  of  our  fellow-men  let  not  our  civic 
heroes  be  forgotten.  Washburne  and  Hoyne  were  types  of 
stalwart  manhood  that  were  fit  to  command  the  Ironsides  of 
Cromwell,  and  Ogden,  Butterfield,  Arnold  and  Skinner  to  be 
Counselors  of  State  and  direct  its  most  complicated  affairs. 
We  beg  your  indulgence  for  a  moment  while  we  take  a 
retrospect. 

Within  the  memory  of  men  still  living  the  State  of  Illinois 
has  advanced  from  an  unorganized  territory  to  that  of  a  great 
and  powerful  commonwealth. 

A  century  has  not  yet  elapsed  since  the  vast  and  unoccupied 
territory  which  now  comprises  five  states  was  nominally  under 
the  British  dominion,  and  it  is  not  a  century  since  we  con- 
stituted the  frontier  county  of  Virginia,  and  afterwards  formed 
a  part  of  Indiana,  and  not  until  1818  that  we  set  up  for  ourselves. 


In  1778  Chicago  was  in  Virginia,  and  up  to  1809  was  in 
Indiana.  February  3,  1809,  Indiana  Territory  was  by  an  act  of 
Congress  divided  into  two  separate  governments.  President 
Madison  appointed  John  Boyle,  an  Associate  Justice  of  the 
Court  of  Appeals  of  Kentucky,  Governor  of  the  territory,  but 
he  declined  and  Ninian  Edwards,  Chief  Justice  of  the  same 
court,  was  appointed  in  his  stead.  Nathaniel  Pope  was  appointed 
Secretary,  Alexander  Stuart.  Obadiah  Jones  and  Jesse  B. 
Thomas,  Judges;  Benjamin  H.  Boyle,  Attorney  General. 

Under  the  ordinance  of  1787  and  the  act  of  Congress 
February  3,  1809,  the  Governor  and  Judges  constituted  the 
law-making  power  of  the  territory,  and  as  such  they  met  for 
the  first  time  at  Kaskaskia,  June  13,  1809,  and  their  first  act 
was  to  resolve  that  the  laws  of  Indiana  Territory,  in  force  prior 
to  March  1,  1809,  which  applied  to  the  government  of  the  ter- 
ritory, should  remain  in  full  force  and  effect.  The  duration  of 
the  session  was  seven  days. 

The  earliest  settlements  were  in  the  southern  portion  of  the 
State  and  the  settlers  chiefly  from  Virginia  and  Kentucky. 
This  arose  from  the  fact  that  the  exploits  of  Col.  George  Eogers 
Clark,  who,  with  a  small  force  of  Virginians  and  men  of  Ken- 
tucky, had  penetrated  far  beyond  the  furthermost  settlements 
and  taken  Kaskaskia  and  Cahokia  in  the  name  of  Virginia,  and 
had  so  stimulated  immigration  to  the  Illinois  country  that  the 
early  settlers  were  almost  exclusively  from  those  States;  conse- 
quently when  the  State  was  organized  the  great  preponderance 
of  the  population  was  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State.  Indeed, 
when  the  first  constitutional  convention  was  called  to  frame  a 
constitution  not  a  man  was  in  that  convention  who  lived  north 
of  Madison  County.  Virginia  claimed  the  whole  country  by 
right  of  conquest  through  Col.  Clark,  and  erected  the  whole 
territory  of  Illinois  into  a  county  called  Illinois  County,  and  it 
so  remained  until  ceded  by  Virginia  to  the  General  Government 
and  Indiana  and  Illinois  had  been  carved  out  of  the  same  and 
organized  into  territorial  governments. 

The  relations  of  Illinois  to  Virginia  is  one  of  great  interest, 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  Illinois  was  for  many  years  the  fron- 
tier country  of  that  great  State,  and  in  further  view  of  the 
fact  that  the  Supreme  Court  of  this"*  State  has  in  at  least  four 


cases  decided  that  the  common  law  exists  here  to-day  as  it  did 
in  Virginia  in  1784,  when  it  ceded  its  claims  to  the  General 
Government,  and  before  the  passage  of  the  ordinance  of  1787. 

And  here  let  us  mention  a  remarkable  fact,  that  no  statue 
or  ornament  adorns  the  capital  of  either  Illinois,  Virginia,  or 
Kentucky  of  George  Rogers  Clark ;  neither  was  the  law  estab- 
lishing the  Illinois  country  into  the  "  County  of  Illinois  "  ever 
printed  in  any  collection  of  laws  or  statutes  in  this  State,  and 
so  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  discover,  can,  we  believe,  only 
be  found  in  Henning's  Statutes  of  Virginia.  It  was  reprinted 
by  us  a  short  time  since  in  a  local  legal  publication,  and  is  of 
itself  a  rare  relic  and  curiosity.  The  only  thing  done  by  the 
people  of  this  State  to  perpetuate  the  name  of  Clark,  is  to  call 
a  county  after  him,  and  to  name  the  street,  on  which  the  build- 
ing in  which  we  are  now  assembled  fronts,  Clark  street.  We 
expect  some  day,  however,  to  find  that  some  enterprising  mem- 
ber of  the  City  Council  will  rise  in  his  place  and  declare,  as  it 
has  been  done  in  several  other  instances,  that  it  is  without  sig- 
nificance, and  move  to  wipe  out  the  name  of  this  old  pioneer, 
and  change  it  to  that  of  Sixth  avenue. 

In  1821  Chicago  was  in  Pike  County,  in  1823  in  Fulton 
County,  and  in  1825  in  Peoria  County. 

The  act  creating  Cook  County  was  passed  and  approved  by 
the  General  Assembly  of  Illinois  January  15,  1831,  and  by 
that  same  act  Chicago  was  made  the  county  seat,  and  a  ferry 
established  at  the  seat  of  justice.  It  was  named  after 
Daniel  P.  Cook,  a  son-in-law  of  Governor  Ninian  Edwards, 
who  was  one  of  the  first  United  States  Senators  from  this  State. 
He  was  a  member  of  Congress  from  1820  to  1827,  and  during 
that  year,  at  the  age  of  32. 

In  March,  1831,  Cook  County  was  organized.  It  embraced 
within  its  boundaries  all  of  the  territory  which  now  constitutes 
the  counties  of  Lake,  McHenry,  DuPage  and  Will,  and  the  only 
voting  place  in  the  county  at  the  first  election  was  Chicago. 

This  county  included  part  of  Wisconsin  and  Michigan 
and  all  of  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  and  the 
process  of  a  Virginia  court  at  that  time  was  as  potent  at  Mil- 
waukee as  at  Williamsburg — with  this  qualification  that  there 
was  no  Milwaukee,  but  there  was  a  Williamsburg. 


After  the  constitution  had  been  adopted,  the  General  As- 
sembly convened,  the  State  Government  organized,  and  then 
an  adjournment  took  place  until  the  winter  of  1818-1819. 
At  this  adjourned  session  a  code  of  statute  law  was  passed, 
mostly  borrowed  from  the  statutes  of  Kentucky  and  Virginia. 
"But,"  as  Governor  Ford  says,  "this  code  as  a  whole  did  not 
stand  long.  For  many  sessions  afterwards,  in  fact  until  the 
new  revision  in  1827,  all  the  standard  laws  were  regularly 
changed  and  altered  every  two  years,  to  suit  the  taste  and  whim 
of  every  new  Legislature.  For  a  long  time  the  rage  for  amend- 
ing and  altering  was  so  great,  that  it  was  said  to  be  a  good 
thing  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  did  not  have  to  come  before  the 
Legislature,  for  that  body  would  be  certain  to  alter  and  amend 
them,  so  that  no  one  could  tell  what  was  or  was  not  the  law  of 
the  State.  A  session  of  the  Legislature  was  like  a  great  fire  in 
the  boundless  prairies  of  the  State;  it  consumed  everything. 
And  again  it  was  like  the  genial  breath  of  spring,  making 
all  things  new." 

The  capital  was  at  that  time  at  Kaskaskia,  the  ancient  seat 
of  empire  for  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  the 
French  and  English  inhabitants  who  had  followed  the  Indian 
trail  along  the  route  from  the  northern  lakes  to  the  Spanish 
settlements  in  the  South  under  the  guidance  of  La  Salle  and 
Iberville,  and  the  priests  Alvarez,  Rasles,  Gravier,  Pinet, 
Marest,  and  others,  and  who  had  in  time  taken  up  their  abode 
at  Prairie  du  Rocher,  Bone  du  Pont,  Cahokia,  Fort  Chatres, 
Peoria,  and  Chicago. 

Chicago  became  an  incorporated  town  by  vote  of  the 
people,  August  5,  1833,  and  the  first  election  of  Town  Trus- 
tees was  August  10,  1833.  It  had  at  that  time  a  population 
not  much  exceeding  one  hundred  and  fifty  inhabitants.  On 
the  4th  of  March,  1837,  the  Charter  was  passed  incorporating 
the  City  of  Chicago.  May  2,  1837,  Chicago  became  a  city. 

By  the  Charter  of  the  City  of  Chicago,  passed  March  4th, 
1837,  a  Municipal  Court  was  provided  for,  and  was  duly 
organized,  but  was  abolished  by  an  Act  of  the  Legislature, 
February  15,  1839,  and  all  actions  then  pending  in  it  were 
transferred  to  the  Circuit  Court. 

July,  1832,  according  to  Captain  Walker,  who  came  here 


6 

to  engage  in  the  Black  Hawk  War,  there  were  but  five  dwel- 
ling houses  here,  three  of  which  were  made  of  logs. 

By  the  Constitution  of  1818  it  was  provided  that  the 
judicial  power  of  the  State  should  be  vested  in  a  Supreme 
Court  to  be  holden  at  the  seat  of  government,  to  consist  of  a 
chief  justice  and  three  associates,  but  that  the  number  might 
be  increased  by  the  General  Assembly  after  the  year  1824. 
It  was  further  provided  that  the  justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court  and  the  judges  of  the  inferior  courts  should  be 
appointed  by  joint  ballot  of  both  branches  of  the  General 
Assembly,  and,  commissioned  by  the  Governor,  should  hold 
their  offices  during  good  behavior  "  until  the  end  of  the  first 
session  of  the  General  Assembly,  which  shall  be  begun  and 
held  after  the  1st  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
1824,  at  which  time  their  commissions  shall  expire  ;  until 
which  time  the  said  justices  were  to  hold  circuit  courts  in  the 
several  counties,  in  such  manner  and  at  such  times,  and  have 
and  exercise  such  jurisdiction  as  the  General  Assembly  should 
by  law  prescribe.  And  ever  after  the  aforesaid  period  the 
justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  should  be  commissioned  during 
good  behavior,  and  the  justices  thereof  should  not  hold  cir- 
cuit courts  unless  required  by  law/' 

According  to  this  arrangement  the  State  was  divided  into 
four  judicial  circuits,  in  which  the  Chief  Justice  and  his  three 
associates  performed  circuit  duties  until  1824.  In  December, 
1824,  an  act  was  passed  dividing  the  State  into  five  judicaj 
districts,  and  five  circuit  judges  ordered  to  be  elected  by  the 
General  Assembly,  who  were  to  perform  circuit  duty,  thereby 
relieving  the  Supreme  Court  Justices.  But  this  was  consid- 
ered unnecessary  and  an  extravagant  waste  of  money,  as  the 
four  Supreme  Court  Judges  were  each  receiving  $800  per  year 
and  the  Circuit  Judges  each  $600  per  year.  This  act  was 
therefore  repealed  January  12,  1827,  the  State  divided  into 
four  judicial  circuits,  to  each  of  which  one  of  the  justices  of  the 
Supreme  Court  was  assigned.  January  8,  1829.  a  fifth  cir- 
cuit was  added,  which  included  the  whole  region  north  of  the 
Illinois  River,  and  for  it  a  judge  was  chosen  by  the  General 
Assembly,  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Bench  having  been 
already  assigned  for  duty  in  the  four  circuits  south  of  that 
river. 


In  1831  the  Fifth  Judicial  Circuit  was  composed  of  the 
Counties  of  LaSalle,  Putnam,  Peoria,  Fulton,  Schuyler,  Adams, 
Hancock,  McDonough,  Knox,  Warren,  Jo  Daviess,  Mercer, 
Bock  Island,  Henry  and  Cook.  It  will  be  noticed  that  this 
circuit  contained  fifteen  counties,  and  embraced  such  distant 
points  as  Galena,  Quincy,  Peoria  and  Chicago.  Richard  M. 
Young  was  judge,  and  the  first  term  of  a  Circuit  Court  ever 
held  here  was  held  either  in  May,  1833,  or  September  of  that 
year. 

Under  and  by  virtue  of  this  arrangement  the  terms  of  the 
Circuit  Court  of  this  County  were,  prior  to  1848,  held  by 
Richard  M.  Young,  Thomas  Ford,  Sidney  Breese,  Stephen  T. 
Logan,  John  Dean  Caton,  John  Pierson,  of  Danville,  and 
Jesse  B.  Thomas,  jr.,  and  perhaps  Theophilus  W.  Smith.  The 
sessions  of  the  Court  were  held  in  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  which  stood  in  the  same  block  with  the  Sherman  House, 
fronting  on  Clark  street.  There  has,  first  and  last,  been  con- 
siderable discussion  among  our  local  authorities  as  to  the  exact 
date  when  the  first  session  of  the  Circuit  Court  was  ever  held 
in  this  county,  some  contending  that  it  was  held  in  September, 
1831,  others  that  it  was  not  before  May  or  September,  1833. 

Judge  Manniere  stated  at  the  memorinl  services  of  Col. 
Hamilton  in  1860,  that  the  first  term  of  the  Circuit  Court  in 
Cook  County  was  held  in  September,  1831.  Mr.  Bross,  in  his 
history  of  Chicago,  holds  to  this  also,  and  seems  further  to  be 
of  the  opinion  that  a  term  was  also  held  here  in  1832,  for  he  says 
that  the  records  of  the  County  Commissioners  show  that  "  the 
Sheriff  shall  secure  one  or  more  rooms  for  the  Circuit  Court, 
at  the  house  of  James  Kinzie,  provided  it  can  be  done  at  a 
cost  of  not  more  than  ten  dollars."  In  confirmation  of  the 
view  that  such  court  was  held,  the  same  work  states  that  Judge 
Young,  accompanied  from  Galena  by  Lawyers  Mills  and  Strode, 
brought  tidings  to  Chicago  of  the  disturbed  state  of  the 
Indians,  which  culminated  later  in  the  Black  Hawk  War. 

Charles  Ballance,  in  his  "  History  of  Peoria,"  says  that 
Judge  Young  made  his  appearance  in  the  Village  of  Peoria  in 
May,  1833,  and  announced  that  he  was  on  his  way  to  Chicago 
to  hold  Court.  "  On  this  occasion  I  attended  Court  at  Chicago 
to  seek  practice  as  a  lawyer  and  partly  to  see  the  country." 


8 

"  The  first  term  of  the  Circuit  Court  held  in  Cook  County," 
says  Thomas  Hoyne,  "  was  in  September,  1833,  by  Hon. 
Richard  M.  Young.  In  1834  he  also  held  the  term  in  May." 
Judge  Caton  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  first  term  was  held  in 
May,  1834,  or  at  least  at  which  any  law  business  was  done. 
Except  an  appeal  from  some  justice,  which  was  No.  1  on  the 
docket,  he  tried  the  first  case  ever  tried  in  a  Court  of  Record 
in  this  county,  and  this  he  is  confident  was  at  the  May  term, 
1834. 

Judge  Young  may  have  come  here  in  1831-2  and  '3,  but  it 
is  quite  possible  and  very  probable,  from  all  we  can  learn,  that 
no  regular  court  was  held  here  at  which  any  business  was  done 
until  the  spring  of  1834. 

The  first  lawyer  that  ever  came  here  to  reside  was  Charles 
Jouett,  who  came  here  as  Indian  Agent  in  1805.  He  was  a 
native  of  Virginia,  born  in  1772,  and  the  youngest  of  nine 
children.  His  father  shared  in  Braddock's  defeat,  and  two  of 
his  brothers  fought  in  the  war  of  Independence. 

He  studied  law  at  Charlottesville,  Virginia,  and  was  ap- 
pointed by  Jefferson  Indian  Agent  at  Detroit  in  1802.  Jan- 
uary 22,  1803,  Mr.  Jouett  married  Miss  Eliza  Dodemead,  of 
Detroit,  who  died  in  1805,  leaving  a  daughter  born  in  1804. 
April  2,  1805,  he  was  appointed  Commissioner  to  hold  a  treaty 
with  the  Wjandottes,  Ottawas,  and  other  Indians  in  North- 
western Ohio,  and  what  is  now  Southeastern  Michigan.  The 
treaty  was  signed  at  Fort  Industry,  on  "  The  Miami  of  the 
Lake,"  now  Maumee,  July  4,  1805.  The  same  year  he  was 
appointed  as  Indian  Agent  at  Chicago,  and  on  October  26, 
1805,  assumed  charge,  by  direction  of  the  Government,  of  the 
Sacs,  Foxes,  and  Pottawatomies. 

Early  in  1809  he  married  Miss  Susan  Randolph  Allen,  of 
Clark  County,  Kentucky,  but  born  near  Williamsburg,  Virginia, 
in  1786.  By  her  he  had  one  son  born  in  Chicago  in  1809,  but 
he  died  in  1810.  Three  daughters  were  afterwards  born  to 
him  in  Kentucky.  In  1811  he  removed  to  Mercer  County, 
Kentucky,  where  he  became  a  Judge  in  1812.  He  was  again 
appointed  Indian  Agent  for  Chicago'  by  President  Madison  in 
1815,  and  moved  here  with  his  family  in  that  year.  He  is 
charged  with  Si, 000  salary  as  such  agent  on  the  books  of  the 
Government  for  1816. 


9 

The  Indian  Agencies  in  Illinois  were  turned  over  to  the 
Territory  in  1817,  and  he  soon  after  severed  his  connection 
with  the  Department  and  returned  to  Kentucky,  although  we 
find  his  name  appended  to  the  Indian  Treaty  which  was  signed 
at  St.  Mary's,  Ohio,  September  17,  1818. 

On  the  organization  of  the  Territory  of  Arkansas  in  1819, 
lie  was  appointed  Judge,  but  the  climate  proved  unfavorable 
and  unhealthy,  and  he  resigned  after  a  residence  of  a  few 
months  and  returned  to  Kentucky,  and  died  in  Trigg  County 
on  the  28th  of  May,  1834.  His  family  were  noted  for  their 
remarkable  size,  strength  and  manly  beauty,  and  he  appears  to 
have  been  a  man  of  great  intelligence  and  integrity.  He 
enjoyed  the  friendship  of  three  Presidents,  and  the  confidence 
of  all  who  knew  him. 

The  next  lawyer  that  took  up  his  abode  here  was  Russell 
E.  Heacock,  who  was  born  in  Litchfield,  Connecticut,,  in  the 
year  1799.  He  lost  his  father  when  quite  young,  learned  the 
carpenter's  trade,  which  he  followed  for  about  thirty  years, 
removed  to  St.  Louis  in  1806,  studied  law  in  a  desultory  man- 
ner under  one  Russell  Easton,  of  St.  Louis,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1816.  He  married  Rebecca,  second  daughter  of 
William  Osborn,  at  Brownsville,  that  same  year.  He  was 
licensed  to  practice  in  Illinois  on  the  24th  of  January,  1821. 
He  then  went  to  Buffalo,  where  he  resided  three  years.  He 
removed  from  there  in  1827,  and  arrived  in  Chicago  July  4th, 
of  that  year.  He  at  first  took  up  his  residence  inside  of  the 
enclosure  of  old  Fort  Dearborn.  During  the  next  year  he 
removed  to  a  log  cabin,  which  he  purchased  of  one  Peter 
Lampslett,  situated  about  the  center  of  section  32,  township  39, 
range  14,  "  about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  southeast  of  the  lock 
at  Bridgeport,  and  about  one  mile  south  of  Hardscrabble." 
In  1830  he  appears  to  have  acted  at  one  time  as  a  judge,  and 
at  another  time  as  a  clerk  of  election,  and  in  1831  was  selected 
as  one  of  two  Commissioners  to  lay  out  a  road  from  Shelby- 
ville  to  Chicago.  He  was  licensed  to  keep  a  tavern  in  his  own 
residence  at  Hardscrabble,  which  was,  we  believe,  near  the 
present  site  of  the  rolling  mills  at  Bridgeport,  and  was  one  of 
the  seven  justices  appointed  for  Cook  County  September  10, 
1831.  He  became  a  purchaser  of  several  school  lots  at  the  sale 


10 

of  the  school  section  in  1833,  one  of  which  was  lot  7,  block  117, 
fronting  south  on  Adams,  directly  opposite  what  was  until  a 
short  time  since  known  as  the  Kookery,  which  lot  he  designed 
for  a  residence.  In  the  Spring  of  1835  he  built  a  house  on  what 
he  supposed  was  this  lot,  only  to  find  after  he  had  finished  it  that 
it  was  on  Monroe  street  instead  of  Adams,  whither  he  proceeded 
to  remove  it  on  rollers.  This  house  his  son  said  he  occupied  off 
and  on  until  his  death.  The  first  suit  in  chancery  that  I  ever 
had  occurred  over  this  identical  lot.  Under  date  of  August  5, 
1835,  we  find  him  advertised  as  an  attorney,  and  his  name  ap- 
pears in  the  Chicago  directories  as  late  as  1848.  He  was  one 
the  four  delegates  from  Cook  County  to  the  Constitutional 
Convention  of  1847,  the  others  being  Francis  E.  Sherman, 
Patrick  Ballingall  and  E.  F.  Colby. 

He  invested  largely  in  lands  inside  and  outside  of  the  town, 
and  became  greatly  embarrassed  in  the  years  following  1837. 
In  1843  he  received  a  stroke  of  paralysis,  which  disabled  him 
to  a  great  extent.  During  the  cholera  epidemic  of  1849  he 
fled  with  his  family  to  a  farm  owned  by  him  at  the  Summit? 
where  he  himself,  his  wife  and  two  sons  were  attacked,  and  died 
in  quick  succession  between  the  28th  and  30th  of  June.  He 
was  a  lawyer  of  fair  abilities,  could  talk  well,  was  independent, 
and  of  most  decided  convictions,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  at  the  election  for  the  incorporation  of  Chicago  as  a  town, 
on  August  10, .  1833,  out  of  thirteen  votes  cast,  or,  as  some  of 
the  records  show,  twenty-eight  votes,  his  vote  was  the  only  one 
cast  against  its  incorporation.  He  left  several  children  to 
survive  him. 

The  next  lawyer  that  came  here  was  Richard  J.  Hamilton, 
who,  it  is  probable,  was  the  author  of  the  well-known  phrase 
that  a  public  office  is  a  public  trust,  for  he  had  great  experi- 
ence as  a  public  officer,  having  filled  almost  every  local  office 
extant  in  his  day.  Richard  J.  Hamilton  was  originally  from 
Kentucky,  but  removed  at  an  early  day  to  Southern  Illinois 
and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  Jackson  County  March  31, 
1827.  He  became  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  that  county,  then 
cashier  of  the  Brownsville  branch  of  the  old  State  Bank.  On 
the  organization  of  Cook  County  he  turned  his  eyes  northward 
and  was  elected  by  the  General  Assembly  as  the  first  Probate 


11 

Jiidge  of  Cook  County,  January  29,  1831.  His  friend,  Judge 
Richard  M.  Young,  appointed  him  Clerk  of  the  Cook  County 
Circuit  Court,  and  Governor  Reynolds  commissioned  him  a 
Notary  Public  and  Recorder.  He  was  afterwards  appointed 
commissioner  of  school  lands  and  trustee  of  the  school,  and 
Clerk  of  the  County  Commissioners'  Court;  in  short  he  united 
in  his  own  person  so  many  offices  and  performed  so  many 
duties  that  it  was  sometimes  said  that  he  was  "Cook  County 
incarnate."  According  to  all  accounts  he  arrived  in  Chicago 
in  the  very  early  days  of  March,  1831,  and  was  present  at  the 
organization  of  the  county  on  the  eighth  of  that  month. 

He  was  a  volunteer  in  the  movement  against  the  hostile 
Indians  in  the  Fox  River  country  and  arrived  at  Indian  Creek 
on  the  twenty- second  of  May,  1832,  after  the  massacre  of  the 
settlers  and  found  thirteen  dead  bodies  that  had  been  slain  the 
day  before.  The  flying  refugees  were  escorted  back  to  Chi- 
cago and  were  there  taken  care  of.  In  1835  he,  in  connection 
with  others,  employed  John  Watkins  to  teach  a  school  near 
the  old  Indian  Agency  house  where  he  resided;  he  afterwards 
erected  his  own  house  on  Michigan  street  between  Cass  and 
Rush  streets  where  he  lived  for  nineteen  years.  He  was  one 
of  the  voters  for  the  incorporation  of  Chicago  as  a  town, 
August  5,  1833,  and  for  its  first  board  of  trustees  soon  after.  He 
was  a  subscribing  witness  to  the  Indian  treaty  of  September 
26,  1833.  In  October  of  that  year  he,  as  commissioner  of 
school  lands,  in  compliance  with  a  petition  which  had  received 
ninety-five  signatures  embracing  most  of  the  principal  citizens 
of  the  town,  authorized  the  sale  of  the  school  section.  In 
1835  Hamilton  became  a  candidate  before  the  people  for  the 
office  of  Recorder,  and,  in  answer  to  criticisms  which  had  been 
made  upon  him  for  holding- all  of  the  offices  in  Cook  County, 
published  a  card  by  way  of  explanation,  in  which,  among  other 
things,  he  said:  "In  1831  I  received  the  appointment  of 
Clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court,  Judge  of  Probate  and  Notary 
Public.  I  then  moved  to  Chicago  and  found  that  no  one 
wanted  these  offices.  Soon  after  the  gentleman  holding  the 
position  of  Clerk  of  the  County  Commissioners'  Court  resigned 
and  I  was  appointed.  The  office  of  School  Commissioner  was 
then  held  by  Colonel  T.  J.  V.  Owen,  who  resigned.  Up  to 


12 

September,  1834,  the  office  has  yielded  me  in  all  about  $200; 
notary  fees  have  not  exceeded  $50 ;  probate  fees  have  not 
amounted  to  more  than  $50.  I  have  not  realized  from  all 
offices,  including  that  of  Recorder,  during  four  years  more 
than  §1,500.  The  whole  number  of  instruments  recorded,  in- 
cluding a  large  number  of  Receivers'  Certificates  for  lands  pur- 
chased at  late  sales,  have  been  to  July  1,  1835,  about  1.300,  at 
about  seventy  cents  each." 

He  died  of  paralysis  December  26,  i860,  in  the  sixty- 
second  year  of  his  age,  leaving  a  widow  and  five  children. 

It  does  not  come  within  the  scope  of  these  remarks  to  go 
into  further  details  pertaining  to  the  life  of  this  most  remark- 
able man,  but  suffice  it  to  say  that  he  was  one  of  the  most 
public  spirited  of  the  early  settlers  and  took  part  in  all  matters 
relating  to  the  social,  political,  educational  and  religious  inter- 
ests of  the  people.  At  the  time  of  his  death  a  large  meeting 
of  the  bar  was  held,  which  was  participated  in  by  all  the  old 
members  of  the  profession.  Judge  Maimiere  reported  a  series 
of  resolutions  in  which  it  was  stated  that,  "His  death  has  re- 
moved one  of  your  most  distinguished  citizens  and  pioneers, 
and  the  oldest  member  of  the  legal  fraternity,  and  that  they 
took  pleasure  in  bearing  testimony  to  the  high  character  of  the 
deceased  as  a  man  and  a  citizen.1' 

The  first  lawyers  who  came  here  to  make  a  living  by  their 
profession  were  Giles  Spring  and  John  Dean  Caton,  who  arrived 
here  about  June  19,  1833.  If  they  did  not  try  the  first  law- 
suit they  were  engaged  in  the  first  prosecution  for  larceny  that 
ever  occurred  in  our  midst,  which  was  made  memorable  by  the 
discovery  of  the  stolen  pelf  in  the  toe  of  the  criminal's  stock- 
ing after  having  denied  all  knowledge  of  the  disappearance  of 
the  same,  while  in  the  very  act  of  denying  it.  Judge  Caton 
was  so  enraged  that  he  jerked  off  the  culprit's  stocking,  causing 
him  thereby  to  disgorge  and  making  profert  of  the  plunder  in 
open  court.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  Judge  Caton  not  only 
earned  his  fee  but  got  it,  while  Spring,  who  defended  this 
hapless  wight  was  left  without  anything. 

Soon  after  there  came  James  H.  Collins,  Justin  Butterfield, 
George  Manniere,  Alonzo  Huntington,  Ebenezer  Peck,  James 
Grant,  E.  W.  Casey,  A.  N.  Fullerton,  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  Henry 


13 

Moore,  Grant  Goodrich,  Buckner  S.  Morris,  Wm.  B.  and 
Mahlon  D.  Ogden,  Mark  Skinner,  Lisle  Smith,  N.  B.  Judd, 
Thos.  Hoyne,  William  H.  Brown,  Henry  Brown,  and  George 
B.  Meeker, — we  have  not  given  the  names  of  these  lawyers  in 
the  exact  order  of  time  of  the  arrival — but  we  believe  that, 
as  we  have  just  stated  that  Spring  and  Caton  came  here  in 
1833,  Grant  Goodrich,  Buckner  S.  Morris,  James  H.  Collins 
in  1834,  William  B.  Ogden,  George  Manniere,  Alonzo  Hunt- 
ington,  Ebenezer  Peck,  John  Young  Scammon  and  Justin 
Butterfield  in  1835,  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  John  Wentworth, 
Mark  Skinner  and  Henry  Brown  in  1836,  Lisle  Smith 
Thomas  Hoyne,  N.  B.  Judd,  and  George  B.  Meeker,  and 
Mahlon  D.  Ogden  in  1837,  Edward  G.  Kyan  in  1836,  Hugh 
T.  Dickey  in  1838.  Calvin  De  Wolfe  came  October  31,  1837, 
John  Wentworth  October  25,  1836.  William  H.  Brown 
came  here  in  1835.  In  1834  the  number  of  lawyers  was 
eleven,  and  their  names  were:  Russell  E.  Heacock,  R.  J. 
Hamilton,  Giles  Spring,  John  Dean  Caton,  E.  W.  Casey,  A. 
N.  Fullerton,  James  H.  Collins,  James  Grant,  Grant  Goodrich, 
Henry  Moore  and  Buckner  S.  Morris.  Five  of  these  men 
reached  the  bench  and  all  achieved  fair  distinction.  Caton, 
Goodrich,  and  Judge  James  Grant,  now  and  for  many  years  a 
resident  of  Davenport,  Iowa,  survive. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Chicago  bar  was  held  some  time  in 
July,  1835,  and  was  called  to  pay  respect  to  the  memory  of 
Chief  Justice  Marshall,  who  died  July  6,  1835.  The  members 
present  were:  A.  N.  Fullerton,  E.  W.  Casey,  Grant  Goodrich, 
Buckner  S.  Morris,  Henry  Moore,  and  Royal  Stewart. 

From  1834  to  1840  many  young  men  of  education  and 
family  distinction  came  to  Chicago  to  locate  and  engage  in 
the  practice  of  the  law,  but  all  who  thus  came  did  not  remain. 
Among  these  were  Henry  Moore,  Joseph  N.  Balestier,  of 
Brattleboro,  Vermont,  George  Anson,  Oliver  Beaumont,  Fisher 
Ames  Harding,  of  Rhode  Island,  and  Fletcher  Webster,  the 
son  of  Daniel  Webster.  While  here  in  1837  Webster  was  at 
the  head  of  the  firm  of  Webster  &  Harding.  These  gentle- 
men removed  to  Detroit  and  both  afterwards  returned  East. 
Harding  became  distinguished  as  a  journalist  and  Webster 
went  as  Minister  to  China.  Edward  G.  Ryan,  one  of  the 


14 

most  distinguished  lawyers  that  ever  practiced  at  the  Chicago 
bar,  came  here  in  1836.  He  afterwards  removed  to  Racine, 
then  Milwaukee,  and  Avas,  we  believe,  at  the  time  of  his  death 
Chief  Justice  of  the  State  of  Wisconsin.  He  was  first  associ- 
ated in  business  with  Henry  Moore,  then  with  Hugh  T. 
Dickey.  In  1840  he  dissolved  with  Dickey,  went  into  journal- 
ism and  became  editor  of  a  paper  called  The  Tribune,  the  first 
number  of  which  appeared  April  4,  1840. 

We  have  within  the  last  few  days  received  from  Hon.  Hugh 
T.  Dickey,  formerly  one  of  the  most  enterprising,  talented  and 
respected  of  our  fellow  citizens,  a  most  interesting  letter,  giv- 
ing a  history  of  the  organization  of  the  old  Cook  County 
Court,  together  with  his  reminiscences  of  that  early  day,  which 
has  been  of  great  service  to  us  in  preparing  this  memorial  of 
the  life  and  services  of  Judge  Skinner.  It  is  of  such  an  in- 
teresting character  that  with  your  indulgence  we  will  read  it.* 

THE    EVOLUTION   BY   WHICH    THE    "  COOK    COUNTY    COURT  " 
BECAME    "  THE    SlJPEBIOE    COURT    OF    COOK    COUNTY/' 

By  an  Act  of  the  Fourteenth  General  Assembly,  passed  and 
approved  February  21,  1845,  a  court,  called  the  Cook  County 
Court,  was  established  in  Cook  County,  with  a  seal  and  clerk, 
to  be  held  by  a  judge  chosen  in  the  manner,  and  to  hold  office 
for  the  term  of  Judges  of  Courts  of  Eecord  in  the  State,  with 
a  jurisdiction  concurrent  with  that  of  Circuit  Courts,  and  ex- 
clusive jurisdiction  in  all  appeal  cases,  and  in  all  cases  of 
misdemeanor  which  are  prosecuted  by  indictment.  It  was  to 
hold  four  terms  a  year  in  the  City  of  Chicago,  commencing  on 
the  first  Monday  in  May,  August,  November  and  February,  to 
continue  each  term  until  all  of  the  business  before  the  Court 
was  disposed  of.  The  Judge  had  the  power  of  appointing  the 
Clerk. 

At  the  same  session  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  at  the 
same  time,  a  similar  court  was  established  in  Jo  Daviess 
County,  called  the  County  Court  of  Jo  Daviess  County,  and 
by  the  10th  section  thereof  it  was  provided  that  the  Judge 
of  the  County  Court  of  Cook  County  should  hold  two  terms 


*See  Appendix  for  this  letter  in  full. 


15 

of  that  Court  at  Galena,  for  winch  he   should  receive  the  mu- 
nificent sum  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars. 

At  that  time  the  judges  were  elected  by  the  Legislature, 
and  Hugh  T.  Dickey,  a  young  and  rising  lawyer  of  great 
shrewdness,  urbanity  and  ability,  was  selected. 

James  H.  Curtiss,  afterwards  Mayor  of  the  City,  was 
appointed  Clerk,  and  the  first  term  of  the  Cook  County  Court 
was  held  May  5,  1845.  The  amount  of  business  was,  at  that 
time,  considerable,  and  that  Court  and  the  Circuit  Court  were 
kept  busy. 

In  1847  the  Constitution  of  the  State  of  Illinois  was 
revised,  and  a  new  judicial  system  adopted  for  the  State,  in 
and  by  which  the  judiciary  was  made  elective.  A  County 
Court  was  established  in  each  county,  with  probate  jurisdic- 
tion, to  be  held  by  one  judge,  who  was  to  be  elected  by  the 
qualified  voters  of  the  county,  and  hold  for  four  years. 

In  the  general  overturning  which  took  place  by  the  inau- 
guration of  a  new  judicial  system  and  the  election  of  all  the 
judges,  provision  was  made  in  the  supplement  to  the  new  con- 
stitution that  "  The  Cook  and  Jo  Daviess  County  Courts  shall 
continue  to  exist,  and  the  judge  and  other  officers  of  the  same 
remain  in  office  until  otherwise  provided  for." 

By  an  Act  of  the  General  Assembly,  approved  November 
5,  1849,  entitled  "  An  Act  to  establish  the  Tenth  Judicial  Cir- 
cuit, and  to  fix  the  times  of  holding  courts  in  the  Fifth,  Sixth, 
Seventh,  Ninth  and  Eleventh  Judicial  Circuits,  and  for  other 
purposes,"  it  was  provided  in  the  Eleventh  Section  as  follows  : 
"From  and  after  the  first  Monday  in  January  next,  the  Cir- 
cuit Court  in  and  for  the  County  of  Cook,  shall  be  holden  on 
the  first  Mondays  of  May  and  December  in  each  year,  and 
that  there  shall  be  added  to  the  name  and  title  of  the  '  Cook 
County  Court,'  created  by  an  Act  of  the  Legislature,  approved 
on  the  21st  of  February,  1845,  and  referred  to  the  Twenty- 
first  Section  of  the  Schedule  of  the  Constitution,  the  words 
'  of  Common  Pleas,'  so  that  the  title  and  name  of  said  Court 
shall  henceforward  be  the  '  Cook  County  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,'  and  the  regular  terms  of  said  last  named  court  shall 
hereafter  be  held  on  the  first  Mondays  of  February  and  Sep- 
tember in  each  year,  instead  of  at  the  time  heretofore  desig- 


16 

nated  by  law  ;  and  the  said  Cook  County  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  and  the  said  Circuit  Court  of  Cook  County  shall  have 
equal  and  concurrent  jurisdiction  in  all  cases  of  misdemeanor 
arising  under  the  criminal  laws  of  this  State,  and  in  all  cases 
of  appeals  from  justices  of  the  peace  arising  or  instituted 
within  said  County  of  Cook,  any  law  in  anywise  to  the  con- 
trary notwitstanding  ;  and  all  appeals  from  justices  of  the 
peace  within  said  County  of  Cook  shall  be  taken  and  carried 
to  whichever  of  said  courts  the  term  of  which  shall  be  held 
next  after  any  such  appeal  shall  have  been  applied  for  and 
taken." 

By  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly,  approved  February  6, 
1849,  it  was  provided  by  the  1st  section  "  That  on  the  first 
Monday  of  April,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand,  eight 
hundred  and  forty-nine,  and  every  fourth  year  thereafter,  an 
election  shall  be  held  in  Cook  County,  at  which  election  there 
shall  be  chosen  one  Judge  of  the  Court  created  by  an  act  en- 
titled "An  act  to  establish  the  Cook  County  Court,"  approved 
February  21,  .1845 ;  also  a  Clerk  of  said  Court,  and  a  Prosecut- 
ing Attorney,  to  perform  the  duties  provided  for  in  said  act, 
who  shall  each  hold  their  respective  offices  for  the  term  of  four 
years,  and  until  their  successors  shall  be  elected  and  quali- 
fied." 

111.  Laws  of  1849,  p.  69. 

The  Jo  Daviess  County  Court,  which,  by  its  organization, 
was  to  be  held  by  the  Judge  of  the  'County  Court  of  Cook 
County,  was  repealed  February  8,  1849,  and  all  of  its  business 
transferred  to  the  Circuit  Court. 

By  an  act  passed  February  6,  1849,  provision  was  made 
for  the  election  of  a  Judge  of  the  County  Court  on  the  first 
Monday  of  April,  1849,  and  every  fourth  year  thereafter. 

When  the  Constitution  of  1848  went  into  effect,  and  the 
election  of  the  Judges  had  been  transferred  from  the  General 
Assembly  to  the  people,  Judge  Hugh  T.  Dickey,  of  the  Cook 
County  Court,  was  nominated  for  Judge  of  the  Seventh  Judi- 
cial Circuit  by  the  Democrats,  and  was  elected  without  opposi- 
tion. 

Judge  Dickey,  soon  after  his  election,  resigned  the  office 
of  Judge  of  the  County  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  Giles 


17 

Spring  was  elected  as  his  successor,  and  was  commissioned 
April  14,  1849,  and  held  the  office  until  his  premature  death, 
which  took  place  May  15,  1851. 

Spring  was  in  his  way  a  character,  and  has  left  behind  him 
a  name  that  will  be  long  remembered  for  his  talents,  his  keen 
and  cutting  intellect,  and  his  eccentricities.  Judge  Goodrich, 
who  was  at  one  time  his  partner,  in  a  discourse  before  the  His- 
torical Society,  a  few  years  ago,  among  other  things,  said: 

"  Spring  was  a  phenomenon,  a  natural  born  lawyer.  His 
education  was  quite  limited,  and  he  paid  little  respect  to  the 
rules  of  grammar;  yet  he  could  present  a  point  of  law  to  the 
court,  and  argue  the  facts  of  the  case  to  the  jury  with. a  clear- 
ness and  force  seldom  equaled.  He  seemed  sometimes  to  have 
an  intuitive  knowledge  of  the  law  and  mastery  of  its  profound- 
est  and  most  subtle  principles.  His  brain  worked  with  the 
rapidity  of  lightning  and  with  the  force  of  an  engine.  In  argu- 
ment he  possessed  a  keenness  of  analysis,  a  force  of  compact, 
crushing  logic,  which  bore  down  all  opposition." 

Giles  Spring  was  born  in  Massachusetts  in  1805,  whence 
he  emigrated  when  a  young  man  to  the  "Western  Reserve" 
in  Ohio.  He  studied  law  in  Ashtabuln,  in  the  law  office  of 
Giddings  &  Wade,  the  historic  Benjamin  F.  Wade  and  Joshua 
A.  Giddings,  and  removed  to  Chicago  in  1833,  and  sixteen 
years  after,  or  in  1849,  was  elected  Judge  of  the  Cook  County 
Court — Court'  of  Common  Pleas,  but  died  May  15,  1851. 

On  the  death  of  Spring,  in  May,  1851,  Mr.  Skinner  was 
elected  Judge  of  the  Cook  County  Court  of  Common  Pleas, 
and  held  the  office  for  two  years,  but  owing  to  declining  health 
did  not  seek  a  re-election,  and  was  succeeded  by  Judge  John 
M.  Wilson,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  jurists,  in  some  re- 
spects, that  ever  held  a  judicial  position  in  the  courts  of  this 
county. 

The  first  term  of  the  Cook  County  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
was  held  by  Judge  Skinner  in  the  new  Court  House,  which  was 
erected  in  the  center  of  the  public  square,  to  take  the  place  of 
the  old  one-story  structure  which  so  long  stood  on  the  corner, 
February  7,  1853.  Most  of  the  bar  assembled  at  the  court- 
room on  the  occasion,  and  Judge  Skinner,  on  taking  his  seat 
on  the  bench,  congratulated  the  bar  on  the  privilege  of  occu- 


18 

pying  the  new  rooms,  where  there  was  no  fear  of  the  walls  or 
benches  breaking  down. 

Judge  Skinner,  when  he  first  went  on  the  bench,  found 
that  a  large  amount  of  business  had  accumulated,  and  he 
held  court  for  seven  months  continuously.  During  his  term 
he  tried  several  murder  trials,  and  many  cases  of  great  im- 
portance, among  them  one  brought  by  James  H.  Collins,  involv- 
ing the  right  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Co.  to  occupy 
the  lake  front.  The  counsel  for  Collins  were  Isaac  N.  Arnold 
and  John  M.  Wilson,  while  James  F.  Joy,  of  Detroit,  appeared 
on  behalf  of  the  railroad  ;  the  final  result  was,  the  case  was 
compromised  and  the  questions  involved  postponed  to  future 
generations,  it  still  being  doubtful  whether  that  corporation 
owns  Lake  Michigan  or  the  public  square  fronting  on  the  same 
with  the  riparian  rights  bordering  the  same  for  an  unknown 
distance. 

On  the  expiration  of  Judge  Skinner's  term  of  office  John 
M.  Wilson  was  elected  April  4,  1853,  to  succeed  him.  Walter 
Kimball,  clerk,  and  Daniel  McEllroy  as  prosecuting  attorney. 

By  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly  passed  February  21, 
1859,  the  name  of  the  Cook  County  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
was  changed  to  that  of  the  "Superior  Court  of  Chicago"  and 
was  to  consist  of  three  judges,  who  should  hold  their  offices  for 
six  years  respectively,  but  it  was  provided  that  an  election 
should  take  place  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  April,  A.  D.,  1859,  for 
two  judges,  and  it  was  provided  that  the  one  who  received  the 
highest  number  of  votes  should  hold  his  office  for  six  years 
and  the  other  for  four  years,  and  that  on  the  first  Tuesday  of 
April,  1861,  and  every  two  years  thereafter,  there  should  be 
elected  one  judge  of  said  Court  who  should  hold  his  office  for 
six  years  and  until  his  successor  was  elected  and  qualified. 
Public  Laws  of  1859,  p  84. 

Under  this  arrangement  Judge  Van  H.  Higgins  and  Grant 
Goodrich  were  elected  April,  1859.  Judge  Goodrich  held  this 
office  until  1863,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Joseph  E.  Gary, 
who  has  been  regularly  elected  by  the  people  every  once  in 
six  years  ever  since  that  time. 

Judge  Higgins  resigned  in  1865. 

Judge  John  A.  Janiiesou  on  the  resignation  of  Judge  Hig- 


19 

gins  was  elected  as  his  successor,  and  continued  in  that  posi- 
tion until  1883,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  H.  M.  Shepard, 
who  is  now  on  the  bench. 

In  1867  Judge  Wm.  D.  Porter  was  elected  to  succeed 
Judge  J.  M.  Wilson,  but  died  suddenly  on  October  27,  1873. 

Judge  Sidney  Smith  was  elected  in  1879  and  held  the 
office  until  1886  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Judge  •  Gwynne 
Garnett. 

In  1870,  on  the  revision  of  the  Constitution  of  1848,  it  was 
provided  by  article  VI,  section  1,  section  23,  that  the  "  Superior 
Court  of  Chicago  "  shall  be  continued  and  called  the  "Superior 
Court  of  Cook  County." 

It  was  also  provided  that  the  General  Assembly  might 
increase  the  number  of  said  judges  by  adding  one  for  every 
50,000  inhabitants  in  said  County  over  and  above  a  population 
of  400,000,  and  it  was  also  provided  that  the  number  of  the 
Circuit  judges  might  be  increased  in  the  same  way.  Accord- 
ingly an  act  of  the  General  Assembly  was  passed  in  1875  pro- 
viding for  additional  judges  in  the  way  and  manner  specified 
in  the  Constitution  and  increasing  the  number  of  judges  until 
the  said  Court  should  be  composed  of  nine  judges.  It  also 
made  it  the  duty  of  the  Governor  when  he  ascertained  from 
the  census  of  the  State  or  of  the  United  States  that  the  County 
of  Cook  was  entitled  to  one  or  more  additional  judges  "  to 
issue  a  writ  for  the  election  of  one  judge  for  every  50,000 
inhabitants  above  a  population  of  400,000." 

It  having  been  officially  ascertained  by  the  United  States 
census  of  1870  that  the  population  of  Cook  County  was  suf- 
ficient for  four  additional  judges,  at  the  election  in  Novem- 
ber, 1880,  four  additional  judges  were  elected,  so  now  that 
Court  consists  of  seven  judges  and  by  the  same  process  and 
in  the  same  way  the  Circuit  Court  consists  of  eleven  judges, 
five  having  been  provided  for  by  the  Constitution  of  1870  and 
six  more  having  been  added  by  an  act  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly of  1885,  in  accordance  with  article  VI,  section  23,  of  that 
instrument. 

At  the  election  of  November,  1880,  Judges  Hawes,  Will- 
iamson, myself,  and  Judge  Gardner,  whose  untimely  death 
we  this  day  deplore,  were  elected  judges.  Judge  Williamson 


20 

has  since  been  transferred  to  the  Circuit  bench,  and  he  was 
succeeded  by  Judge  Altgelt,  and  Judge  Jamieson  has  suc- 
ceeded Judge  Gardner. 

We  have  now  given  a  brief  history  of  events  which  relat6 
more  particularly  to  our  judicial  annals,  and  have  shown  by 
what  process  of  evolution  the  old  Cook  County  Court  of  1845, 
with  one  Judge  holding  terms  in  Chicago  and  Galena,  became 
the  Superior  Court  of  Cook  County,  1870,  and  how  it  grew 
from  one  judge  to  seven,  and  also  how  the  Circuit  Court  ex- 
panded from  one  judge  to  that  of  eleven.  Let  us  now  briefly 
give  a  resume  of  the  life  and  character  of  him  whose  history 
we  have  been  especially  requested  to  portray. 

Mark  Skinner  was  born  September  13,  1813,  at  Manches- 
ter, Bennington  County,  Vermont.  His  father  was  a  lawyer 
and  a  prominent  man  in  that  State,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  he  held  at  various  terms  the  offices  of  Prosecuting  Attor- 
ney, Probate  Judge,  member  of  the  Legislature,  Governor, 
Representative  m  Congress,  and  Chief  Justice  of  the  State. 

The  ediication  of  the  son  was  carefully  attended  to,  he  hav- 
ing received  a  thorough  academic  and  collegiate  course,  grad- 
uating at  Middlebury  in  1833.  Leaving  Vermont  soon  after 
his  graduation,  and  soon  after  the  death  of  his  father,  he  spent 
a  year  at  the  New  Haven  Law  School,  then  entered  the  office 
of  Judge  Ezek  Cowen  at  Saratoga  Springs,  a  celebrated  law- 
yer, who  is  known  the  world  over  as  the  author  of  Cowen's 
Treatise,  and  finished  his  studies  under  the  tutelage  of  Nicho- 
las Hill,  at  Albany,  who  was  a  master  of  his  profession  and 
'who  perhaps  never  had  his  superior  in  this  or  any  other 
country  in  analyzing  a  case  and  making  a  brief  and  pre- 
senting the  law  points  which  it  involved  to  a  court  of  last  re- 
sort. About  this  time  great  and  glowing  accounts  of  the 
boundless  west  had  reached  his  ears,  and  bidding  adieu  to  his 
preceptors  he  started  for  Chicago  and  arrived  here  in  July, 
1836.  He  was  soon  after  admitted  to  the  bar  and  formed  a 
partnership  with  George  Anson  Oliver  Beaumont,  a  Connecticut 
man,  a  graduate,  we  believe,  of  the  New  Haven  Law  School, 
with  whom  he  continued  in  business  until  1844,  when  Beau- 
mont's health  failing  him  he  was  taken  east  and  died  of  soft- 
ening of  the  brain  December  18,  1845.  In  1847  he  formed  a 


21 

partnership  with  the  late  lamented  Thomas  Hoyne,  and  on  the 
death  of  Giles  Spring,  was  elected  Judge  of  the  Cook  County 
Court  of  Common  Pleas,  which  office  he  held  for  two  years 
and  was  succeeded  by  Judge  John  M.  Wilson. 

Mr.  Skinner  soon  became  known  as  a  keen  and  cultivated 
lawyer,  and  his  services  were  sought  after  by  many  who  had 
great  confidence  in  his  sagacity,  his  sound  judgment,  and  his 
legal  learning.  In  less  than  a  year  he  was  chosen  one  of  the 
Board  of  School  Inspectors,  and  from  this  time  on  his  progress 
was  great  and  his  success  assured. 

V 

He  took  a  great  interest  in  the  cause  of  education,  and  in 
everything  that  related  to  the  welfare  of  the  people  and  their 
future  happiness.  I  have  taken  some  pains  to  look  up  his 
record,  and  it  is  remarkable.  There  was  scarcely  a  projected 
enterprise  in  which  the  public  had  an  interest  but  what  re- 
ceived his  indorsement  or  with  which  he  was  not  identified. 
No  one  of  his  biographers  has  undertaken  to  enumerate  the 
various  public  matters,  public  and  private  corporations,  projects 
and  enterprises,  social,  political,  and  religious  organizations, 
with  which  he  became  associated,  but  from  tne  public  records 
of  this  city,  county,  and  State  we  find  that  he  was  one  of  the 
corporators  of  the  Chicago  Gas  Light  and  Coke  Company,  and 
of  the  old  Chicago  Marine  &  Fire  Insurance  Company,  and  the 
State  Insurance  Company.  He  was  a  School  Inspector  and 
member  of  the  School  Board  soon  after  he  arrived  here,  and 
the  public  school-house,  which  stands  on '  the  corner  of  Aber- 
deen and  Jackson  streets,  bears  his  name,  and  is  known  by 
everybody  as  the  Skinner  School. 

In  1840  Mr.  Skinner  was  City  Attorney  of  the  city,  and 
Thomas  Hoyne,  City  Clerk. 

In  1842  a  School  Inspector.  He  was  a  delegate  to  a  State 
School  Convention,  held  at  Peoria,  October  9,  1844. 

In  1844  he  was  United  States  District  Attorney. 

October  8,  1846,  he  was  a  member  of  a  State  Common 
School  Convention,  held  in  Chicago. 

January  30,  1841,  he,  'Walter  L.  Newberry,  Hugh  T. 
Dickey,  Peter  Page,  Walter  S.  Gurnee  and  other  public-spir- 


22 

ited  citizens  organized  the  "  Young  Men's  Association,"  with 
Walter  L.  Newberry,  President,  Mr.  Skinner,  Vice-President, 
and  Hugh  T.  Dickey,  Corresponding  Secretary.  This  Associa- 
tion provided  a  reading  room  and  a  library,  and  was  the  fore- 
runner of  the  great  Chicago  Public  Library.  It  was  doubtless 
from  Mr.  Newberry's  connection  with  this  Association,  and  the 
interest  that  he  took  in  building  up  that  library,  that  he  was 
induced  to  provide  in  his  will  for  that  munificent  endowment 
which  is  to  be  known  as  the  Newberry  Library. 

Mr.  Skinner  was  also  connected  with  the  Chicago  Lyceum, 
long  one  of  the  foremost  institutions  in  the  city,  and  which 
conducted,  year  by  year,  a  series  of  lectures  by  the  best  talent 
in  the  country.  It  was  in  its  day  a  good  institution. 

In  1846  Mr.  Skinner  was  elected  a  member  of  the  General 
Assembly  and  was  appointed  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Finance  and  introduced  the  bill  for  funding  the  State  debt, 
which,  through  his  efforts,  passed  and  became  a  law.  The 
services  which  Mr.  Skinner  rendered  to  the  people  of  this 
State  at  that  session  of  the  General  Assembly  were  invaluable 
and  perhaps  in  a  public  view  the  most  important  of  his  life. 
The  credit  of  Illinois  was  at  that  time  at  a  low  ebb,  but  by  the 
Funding  Bill  the  public  debt  was  definitely  ascertained, 
the  creditors  settled  with  and  the  credit  of  the  State  restored. 
It  was  the  commencement  in  many  respects  of  a  new  era. 

Judge  Skinner  was  chairman  of  the  meeting  called  by  the 
citizens  of  Chicago  which  met  at  the  Court  House  on  the  16th 
oj:  November.  1846,  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements  for 
the  great  River  and  Harbor  Convention  which  took  place  on 
the  5th  of  July,  1847,  and  was  afterwards  selected  as  a  dele- 
gate to  that  conveniion. 

He  took  a  great  interest  in  the  building  and  equipment  of 
the  old  Galena  &  Chicago  Union  Railroad,  which  was  the  pride 
of  all  the  old  settlers,  and  he  and  J.  Y.  Scammon  and  William 
B.  Ogden,  as  one  of  his  friends  recently  informed  me,  almost 
begged  from  door  to  door  to  raise  the  money  to  pay  for  the 
first  locomotive  that  was  ever  placed  on  that  road  or  drew  a 
train  of  cars  over  the  prairies.  He  was  for  years  one  of  its 
directors,  and  when  the  Chicago.  Burlington  <fe  Quiiicy  Bail- 


23 

road  was  projected,  fosterer!  and  encouraged  and  became  one 
of  its  directors. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Churdh 
when  Dr.  Patterson  was  its  pastor,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death 
an  honored  member  and  officer  in  the  Fourth  Presbyterian 
Church. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commis- 
sion and  President  of  the  Chicago  Sanitary  Commission  that 
did  such  signal  service  to  our  troops  when  operating  in  the 
Valley  of  the  Mississippi  When  the  army  under  Grant  were 
working  their  way  slowly  down  the  Mississippi  Valley  sickness 
and  disease  broke  out  among  them  and  they  were  threatened 
with  the  scurvy.  Judge  Skinner  issued  an  appeal  to  the  people 
of  the  Northwest  as  President  of  the  Chicago  Sanitary  Com- 
mission for  anti-scorbutics,  and  he  so  aroused  the  people  that 
supplies  went  forward  in  vast  quantities,  and  we  have  been 
told  that  his  services  in  that  regard  were  invaluable  and  were 
never  forgotten  by  the  soldiers  or  by  General  Grant  and  his 
officers. 

He  was  one  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Illinois  Charitable  Eye 
and  Ear  Infirmary:  he  was  long  connected  with  the  Chicago 
Relief  and  Aid  Society,  and  was  for  many  years,  the  President 
of  the  Home  of  the  Friendless,  and  was  the  founder  of  the 
Chicago  Reform  School,  which  was  established  for  the  laud- 
able purpose  of  educating  homeless  boys  who  were  without 
parental  control  and  growing  up  in  idleness,  mendicancy  and 
vice,  but  which  was  unfortunately  overthrown  by  a  most  ill- 
judged  opinion  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  this  State,  found  in 
the  55th  111.  Reports,  p.  280,  entitled  The  People,  ex.  rel.,  v. 
Turner,  which  has  since  been  repudiated  and  declared  unsound. 

The  Chicago  Reform  School  was  modeled  after  the  act  in- 
corporating the  House  of  Refuge  of  the  city  of  New  York  at 
an  early  day,  and  was  based  upon  the  idea  that  it  was  the  duty 
of  the  State  to  act  as  parens  pairicc  to  the  young  and  helpless 
who  were  incapable  of  taking,  care  of  themselves.  This  theory 
of  the  power  and  duty  of  the  State  had  received  the  indorse- 
ment of  the  greatest  jurists  of  Maryland,  Pennsylvania  and 
New  York,  as  can  be  seen  by  adjudicated  cases,  and  the  New 


24 

York  act  had  been  examined  and  passed  in  review  by  the  ablest 
lawyers,  judges,  and  statesmen  living  in  that  State.  The  valid- 
ity of  the  act  had  been  repeatedly  attacked,  but  had  always 
been  sustained,  and  commencing  with  Governor  Seward,  in 
1829,  and  reaching  down  to  Governor  John  A.  King,  in  1857, 
it  had  been  indorsed  by  Governor  Seward,  Governor  Bouck, 
Silas  Wright,  Hamilton  Fish,  Horatio  Seymour  and  Governor 
King,  who  had  been  asked  to  pardon  out  inmates  of  the  House 
of  Refuge  on  the  ground  that  it  was  a  prison,  but  they  all  de- 
cided that  it  was  not  a  prison,  but  partook  of  the  character  of 
a  school,  and  that  the  only  persons  who  could  discharge  the 
inmates  were  the  Board  of  Directors.  This  view  of  the  matter 
was  ignored  by  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  who  occupied 
the  bench  at  that  time,  and  all  the  efforts  of  those  who  had 
undertaken  to  establish  a  reformatory  for  juvenile  delinquents 
were  thwarted. 

By  the  irony  of  time  this  false  theory  of  government 
and  view  of  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  Government  has 
at  length  been  reversed,  and  the  principles  for  which 
Judge  Skinner  and  his  colleagues  contended  have  been 
re-established  and  re-enforced  in  several  recent  decisions 
of  this  State,  notably  the  case  of  The  Petition  of  Farrer,  103  111., 
373;  County  of  McLean  v.  Humphreys,  104  111.,  379;  Dodge 
Conservators  v.  Cole,  97  111.,  354.  See  also  ex-parte  Crouse. 
4  Wharton,  11;  Prescott  v.  the  State,  19  Ohio  St.,  184; 
Roth  v.  House  of  Refuge,  31  Ind.,  329;  and  Milwaukee  Indus- 
trial School  v.  Supervisors  of  Milwaukee,  40  Wis.,  3?8. 

We  need  not  dwell  upon  the  distinguished  talents  and 
virtues  of  Judge  Skinner;  his  blameless  life,  his  elevated  piety, 
his  unwearied  diligence,  his  ardent  devotion  to  literature,  and  his 
active  benevolence.  His  manners  were  gentle,  courteous  and 
entertaining.  His  habits  of  life  were  excellent  and  his  tastes 
refined.  His  life  was  worthy  of  example  and  he  belonged 
to  the  very  best  type  of  American  citizens.  He  was  a  lover 
of  his  country  in  its  broadest  and  best  sense  and  long  before 
the  fire  began  to  make  a  collection  of  everything  that  he 
could  lay  his  hands  on  relating  to  the  history  of  America. 
This  was  ail  swept  away  in  the  great  fire  of  1871,  but  he 
began  again  on  the  restoration  of  his  home,  and  at  the  time 


25 

of  his  death  had  a  large  and  valuable  collection  of  books 
and  pamphlets  relating  to  our  history  that  cannot  be  readily 
obtained  either  in  this  country  or  in  Europe.  His  interest 
in  the  Chicago  Historical  Society  is  well  known  and  the 
closing  years  of  his  life  was  largely  devoted  to  these  interests. 

Judge  Skinner  had  improved  his  mind  by  extensive  travel 
and  observation  both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe,  and  there 
was  scarcely  a  subject  that  could  be  broached  but  what  he 
could  throw  light  upon  it.  It  was  our  fortune  to  appear  be- 
fore him  in  some  of  the  earliest  cases  that  we  ever  had  in  a 
court  of  record  and  we  believe  that  it  was  the  universal  verdict 
of  all  who  knew  him  that  a  fairer  and  a  more  impartial  judge 
never  presided  in  our  courts  than  he. 

Judge  Skinner  lead  a  busy  life,  but  it  has  closed  at  last. 
He  died  on  the  16th  of  September,  1887,  in  the  home  of  his 
youth  at  Manchester,  Vermont,  and  sleeeps  with  his  fathers 
honored  and  respected  by  all  who  knew  him. 

He  was  fortunate  in  his  birth  and  surroundings,  and  his 
early  training  filled  him  for  a  useful  and  successful  career. 
By  nature  he  was  gentle,  painstaking,  accurate  and  conscien- 
tious. 

In  his  intercourse  with  his  fellow-men  he  was  always 
actuated  by  a  kindly,  cheerful  and  benevolent  spirit.  He 
always  manifested  the  liveliest  sympathy  in  the  hopes  and 
joys  of  the  young  and  brought  out  the  ample  stores  of  his  ripe 
experience  and  sound  wisdom  to  aid,  encourage  and  warn  them. 

In  reviewing  his  career,  now  closed  so  full  of  all  useful 
service,  public  and  private,  we  think  that  we  are  authorized  in 
saying  that  he  filled  the  full  measure  of  an  American  citizen 
and  secured  the  love  and  respect  of  all  who  came  within  the 
sphere  of  his  influence. 

He  belonged  to  that  class  of  men  who,  without  playing  a 
dazzling  part  on  the  stage  of  life,  form  the  great  conservative 
element  of  society,  men  who  oppose  the  modest  and  uncon- 
scious resistance  of  sound  principle  and  virtuous  example  to 
those  elements  of  instability  which  are  put  in  motion  by  the 
ambitious,  the  wreckless,  the  visionary  and  the  corrupt. 


.26 

He  never  forgot  his  interest  in  the  law,  and  always  took  a 
great  interest  in  everything  that  pertained  to  the  profession. 
The  last  time  that  I  ever  saw  him,  which  w,is  only  a  few  weeks 
before  his  death,  we  talked  at  length  of  the  good  old  times  of 
forty  years  ago,  and  it  was  then  proposed  that  there  should 
be  a  gathering  of  the  veterans  of  the  bar,  and  an  effort  was 
made  to  rescue  from  oblivion  so  much  of  the  personal  history 
of  the  pioneers  as  could  be  obtained  ere  they  all  passed  away. 
He  promised  to  write  out  his  recollections  and  reminiscences, 
and  requested  me  to  write  to  Judge  Hugh  T.  Dickey,  of  New 
York,  and  get  him  to  do  likewise,  which  I  did ;  but,  alas,  before 
he  entered  upon  that  task  he  has  gone  hence,  and  his  memory 
alone  remains  to  us. 

He  has  left  us  the  legacy  of  a  good  name  and  the  splen- 
did example  of  an  honest  man.  He  was  an  ornament  to  our 
profession. 

"  We  cannot,"  says  a  distinguished  jurist,  "  be  indifferent 
to  the  fate  of  our  children  or  our  country,  and  the  happiness 
as  well  as  the  honor  of  both  is  indissolubly  connected  with 
the  faithful  administration  of  justice,  nor  ought  we  to  disguise 
that  that  science  which  has  been  the  choice  of  oui  youth 
and  the  ambition  of  our  manhood  has  much  in  its  milder 
studies  to  soothe  and  cheer  us  in  the  infirmities  of  old  age, 
nor  can  it  be  deemed  a  human  frailty  if,  when  we  take  our 
last  farewell  of  the  law,  we  cast  one  longing,  lingering  look 
behind  and  bless  those  rising  lights  which  are  destined  to 
adorn  our  judicial  tribunals,  however  dimly  they  may  be  de- 
scribed by  our  fading  vision. 

"May  our  successors  in  the  profession  look  back  upon  our 
times,  not  without  some  kind  regrets  and  some  tender  recol- 
lections. May  they  cherish  our  memories  with  that  gentle 
reverence  which  belongs  to  those  who  have  labored  earnestly, 
though  it  may  be  humbly,  for  the  advancement  of  the  law. 
May  they  catch  a  holy  enthusiasm  from  the  review  of  our 
attainments,  however  limited  they  may  be,  which  shall  make 
them  aspire  after  the  loftiest  possessions  of  human  learning. 
And  thus  may  they  be  enabled  to  advance  our  jurisprudence 
to  that  degree  of  perfection  which  shall  make  it  a  blessing  and 


27 

protection  to  our  own  country,  and  excite  the  just  admiration 
of  mankind." 

And  now  we  have  done.     When  I  look  back  over  the  past 
and 

"  When  I  remember  all 

The  friends  so  linked  together, 
I've  seen  around  me  fall 

Like  leaves  in  wintry  weather, 
I  feel  like  one  who  treads  alone 
Some  banquet  hall  deserted, 
Whose  lights  are  fled, 
Whose  garlands  dead, 
And  all  but  he  departed." 


Appendix. 


OR  JUDGE    HUGH  T.    DICKEY. 

473  FIFTH  AVENUE, 
NEW  YORK,    December,  1887. 
HON.   ELLIOTT  ANTHONY: 

My  Dear  Judge — Your  esteemed  letter  of  November  29  came 
to  hand,  and,  after  refreshing  my  recollections  as  to  facts  which 
might  almost  be  considered  as  belonging  to  ancient  history,  I  write 
you  in  reply.  The  Cook  County  Court  (now  the  Superior  Court)  was 
created  by  the  Legislature,  in  the  winter  of  1845,  as  a  court  of 
superior  jurisdiction,  concurrent  with  the  Circuit  Court  in  all  cases 
at  law  and  in  equity,  arising  in  the  County  of  Cook  and  under 
the  title  of  the  "  Cook  County  Court  of  Common  Pleas."  It  was 
provided  that  the  judge,  and,  I  think,  the  prosecuting  attorney,  should 
be  elected  by  the  Lagislature,  and  my  name  having  been  presented 
as  a  candidate  for  judg  %  both  by  the  bar  and  the  people  of  Chicago, 
I  was  elected  in  1845  as  the  judge  of  the  new  court,  and  the  late 
Patrick  Ballingall  was  elected  prosecuting  attorney. 

Having  the  appointing  powers  of  clerk,  I  appointed  the  late 
James  Curtiss,  who  was  the  first  clerk  of  the  court  At  the 
same  session  of  the  Legislature  the  bar  of  Galena  applied  for  the 
creation  of  a  similar  court  for  that  county,  and,  through  the  exer- 
tions of  the  late  Mr.  E.  B.  Washburne,  who  went  to  Springfield  to 
engineer  the  bill,  assisted  by  the  late  Thompson  Campbell,  of  Galena, 
then  Secretary  of  Stat  •,  the  act  was  passed  creating  the  "  Jo  Daviess 
County  Court,"  having  jurisdiction  similar  to  the  Cook  County 
Court;  and  the  bill  provided  that  the  Judge  of  the  Cook  County 
Court  should  be  "ex-officio"  Judge  of  the  Jo  Daviess  County  Court, 
and  Mr.  Washburne  was  himself  elected  prosecuting  attorney  of  the 
court. 

I  held  the  first  term  of  the  Cook  County  Court  at  Chicago,  in  the 
spring  of  1845,  and  after  holding  the  term  there,  went  to  Galena 
and  held  the  first  term  of  the  Jo  Daviess  County  Court  during  the 


same  spring  or  early  summer,  and  afterwards,  while  I  remained  on 
the  bench  of  the  Cook  County  Court,  held  several  terms  annually  of 
the  Jo  Daviess  County  Court. 

In  1847  or  1848,  the  new  Constitution  of  Illinois  took  effect, 
whereby  the  election  for  judges  was  changed  from  the  Legislature 
to  the  people,  and  a  new  election  by  the  people  took  place.  I  was 
nominated  by  both  political  parties  for  Judge  of  the  Seventh  Judicial 
Circuit,  consisting,  I  think,  at  the  time,  of  nine  counties,  and  was 
elected  in  1848  the  Circuit  Judge.  The  circuit  was  soon  after  di- 
vided, leaving  the  counties  of  Cook  and  Lake  alone  in  the  Seventh 
Judicial  Circuit,  and  a  new  circuit  was  made  of  the  other  counties, 
to  which  the  late  Mr.  Hugh  Henderson,  of  Joliet,  was  elected  judge, 

I  resigned  the  circuit  judgeship  in  1853,  and  Buckner  S.  Morris 
was  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy  for  the  rest  of  the  term  of  office.  I 
do  not  now  recollect  distinctly  whether  Judge  Skinner  took  my  place 
as  Judge  of  the  Cook  County  Court  as  my  immediate  successor. 

I  think  Judge  Giles  Spring  might  have  succeeded  me,  although 
more  probably  it  was  Judge  Skinner.  Judge  Grant  Goodrich  would 
know  certainly,  as  he  and  Spring  were  partners  at  the  time.  I  do  not 
recollect  what  became  of  the  Jo  Daviess  County  Court,  either  the 
Court  was  abolished  or  its  judgeship  was  separated  from  that  of  the 
Cook  County  Court,  probably  the  former  ;  one  thing  I  know  certainly 
that  after  I  left  the  Cook  County  Court  no  judge  of  that  court  ever 
held  court  at  Galena.  It  was  not  without  considerable  difficulty  and  a 
good  deal  of  persuasion  that  the  Legislature  was  induced  to  grant  a 
special  court  to  a  single  county  of  the  State  ;  it  was  looked  upon  as 
an  innovation  on  the  established  Circuit  Court  system,  but  it  was 
accomplished  by  the  influence  and  exertions  of  the  members  of  Chi- 
cago, the  late  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  Francis  C.  Sherman  and  Hart  L. 
Stewart  in  the  House,  and  Norman  B.  Judd  in  the  Senate.  I  may 
say  here  in  1845  the  new  Court  had  become  an  absolute  necessity, 
and  the  then  Circuit  Court  a  crying  evil.  When  I  went  to  Chicago  in 
1838,  Judge  John  Pearson,  of  Danville,  was  the  Judge  of  the  Cir- 
cuit Court,  a  notoriously  incompetent  judge,  and  from  whom  a  correct 
bill  of  exceptions  could  scarcely  be  wrung  without  a  conflict 

He  was  succeeded  in  1843,  I  think,  by  Judge  Young,  an  old 
politician  of  the  State,  and  who  had  been  a  State  Senator,  and  who, 
though  a  very  honest  man  and  a  gentleman,  was  a  very  poor  lawyer 
without  any  legal  discrimination  or  acumen,  and  so  slow  that  out  of 
a  docket  of  several  hundred  cases  perhaps  not  more  than  twenty-five 
would  be  tried  at  a  term.  Consequently  cases  remained  for  years 


31 

untried,  the  court  became  clogged,  both  the  bar  and  suitors  became 
disgusted,  and  a  loud  cry  arose  for  another  court,  and  hence  came 
the  Cook  County  Court,  now  the  Superior  Court,  of  Chicago. 

It  gives  me  much  pleasure  to  furnish  you  with  any  information 
in  my  power,  and 

I  remain,  very  truly  your<?, 

HUGH  T.  DICKEY. 


